The 2020-21 program year continued to be impacted by the global pandemic. Increased levels of food insecurity caused The Compelling Why to mobilize to help fill the gap by providing perishable and non-perishable food to over 2,500 Compelling Why students and their families from Dallas, Grand Prairie, and Richardson ISDs, KIPP Truth Academy, and Uplift Education. We did so in partnership with the North Texas Food Bank, Minnie’s Food Pantry, JD Rodriquez Produce, Market Street Grocery Store, and Toyota Financial Services.
It was a significant departure from our core work but necessary.
Although we were unable to complete all scheduled programming for the second half of the 2019-2020 program year due to school closures, we completed all Success Sessions and a portion of our Leadership Series. Below is a summary of program highlights, including survey results from the Success Sessions.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (2019-20)
- Hosted eight Success Sessions at UT-Dallas, reaching more than 1,000 students
- Completed two scheduled Leadership Series before ending due to school closures
- Delivered programming to 28 North-Texas area school campuses, representing seven school districts
- Engaged 25 business and community leaders as panelists
- Produced outstanding student survey results (see below)
- Welcomed Lewisville ISD to our list of school partners
SURVEY RESULTS (2019-20)
Student survey results demonstrate greater awareness and internalization of our success pillars and value of leadership attributes. Success Session: 2019-2020 Compelling Why Pre/Post survey with students responding either “Strongly Agree” or “Agree” to the following statements:
- 87%: “I feel more motivated to succeed in school.”
- 89%: “I understand that my success in school is up to me.”
- 88%: “I understand the value of participating in extracurricular activities.”
- 84%: I “learned about,” “considered joining,” or “signed up or gave my information” to a school or community-based organization.
- 87%: “This event [Success Session] has had a positive impact on my attitude toward education.”
- 86%: “I will recommend this event [Success Session] to my friends.”
* Number of respondents: 951
